Cursed

[Quest has been updated]

[Destroy Them!]

[Members Killed: 3/?->12/?]

[Current Progress: 5%]

Seeing the number of members killed increase confirmed that the people he did kill belonged to the Exterminators. Closing the notification, Jayce looked over at the dwarf.

"How's Ashley?" He wasn't able to use his inspection skill to see her condition before handing her to the dwarf.

"Other than a few bruises, the gal is just fine."

Pulling out his last two health potions, he tossed both of them to the dwarf. Not expecting Jayce to throw something, the dwarf stumbled as he tried to catch the potions.

Juggling them in his hands for a few seconds, he finally was able to secure two flasks in his hands.

"Give them to the girls."

"Ya need to stop tossing things at me without warning." The dwarf grumbled as he walked back into the forge room.

Making sure that he entered the forge, Jayce pulled out some items from his inventory including the bracelet he got from Bella, the mana potions from his fight with Isaac, and his gauntlets.

Now that he had enough space, Jayce put all the bodies into his inventory, filling it. Just as he finished, the dwarf came out of the forge with the girls following him.

"Wha? Where did all the bodies go?" The dwarf was confused as a few seconds ago corpses were lying all around the shop.

The attendant was shocked at seeing the shop in ruins, however, what startled her the most was the amount of blood on the ground.

Ashley ignored the store's state as she ran over and stood next to Jayce.

"Forget about that. I still need to ask you about my other two favors." Jayce stored the equipment he took out from his inventory into his satchel and handed it over to the dwarf.

"First, I need some provisional armor that can hide my face and a weapon while you take care of my stuff. Second, I need you to watch over Ashley for the next few days." Before coming over to the smithy, Jayce realized he needed new equipment to use.

The closest thing he had to armor was his school uniform but that was a no-go.

He also needed a new weapon, since his gauntlets came from the school armory, some of the students or staff might recognize them.

Of course, he couldn't take down an organization while taking care of Ashley at the same time.

Not only was it dangerous but the entire school had already the two of them together. Since the chance of him using Synchro was high, he couldn't let anyone figure out who he was.

"I have some armor and weapons in the back ya can choose from. For watching over the gal, I know nothing about caring for one so I'll leave that to Mia." The dwarf replied as he pointed to the receptionist.

"Wait-"

"Sounds good." Before she had a chance to refuse, Jayce cut her off. A dejected look appeared on her face once she realized she couldn't say no.

Not only did he save her life, but she was also a little afraid of him. Who wouldn't be after seeing the amount of bloodshed he caused by himself?

"Follow me." The dwarf said as he made his way to the forge with Jayce close behind.

Sighing, Mia bent down next to Ashley with a smile on her face. "Guess It'll be you and me for a while."

"M-me and a-a-aunty M-Mia?" Ashley questioned as she tilted her head to the side.

'Aunty?!'

---

After walking into the forge room, they headed towards a door that was located in the back corner of the room.

Opening it, the dwarf flicked a switch on the wall, turning on the magic crystals that lit up the room.

It was a simple storage room, there were crates filled with weapons and armor stands lined up against the wall.

"Ya can pick anything ya want." The dwarf voiced out as he leaned against the wall.

Using his skill, Jayce inspected each item before moving on to the next one.

He was hoping to find something of similar quality to his gauntlets, however, after a few minutes of searching, he was beginning to lose hope.

Most of the items he looked at were of similar quality to the ones on display or in a worse state.

'Is there nothing good back here?' He would rather not have to fight his life on the line with mediocre equipment. Just as he was about to give up, he noticed an armor stand covered in a bright red cloth.

Trudging through the storage room, Jayce reached over and pulled the cloth off the stand.

The armor was black as night with dim grey stripes flowing from the shoulder down to the hands.

At the top of the set laid a mask, one that had no details other than the two slits where the eyes would be located. Under the mask was a long, pitch-black scarf that reached down to the floor.

On the back of the chest piece was a large black hood that would be thrown over the mask. Jayce noticed two jet-black short swords lying against the armor set.

As he went to inspect it, the dwarf yelled from across the room.

"Ya better off not touching that armor or those weapons." Although his voice was stern, it was full of concern.

"Didn't you say I could use anything in here?" Even without using his skill, Jayce could tell they were of much better quality than anything else in the room.

"They're cursed, the lads who were unfortunate enough to wear that armor died a slow and painful death."

"Cursed?" Jayce remembered reading something about cursed objects yet he couldn't recall the exact details.

"That used to belong to the merciless assassin known as Nightmare. He was a human who was hired by the demon forces during the Demonic War.

Once the demons contracted him to kill someone, It didn't matter if ya were a kid or an elderly, ya would be dead before the night was over." The dwarf said with a serious look plastered on his face.

"What happened to him?"

"When the Great Mage Merlin made his first appearance, the demons dispatched Nightmare to kill him. Although Nightmare had the element of surprise, Merlin was able to turn the tables and defeat him in battle."

"Surprisingly, his armor was fully intact after the battle. In hopes of helping humanity in the war against the demons, he gave it to a mage he knew who was proficient in shadow magic."

The dwarf had narrated the story up to this point with a confident look. As he continued telling the history of the cursed equipment, the confidence slowly warped into fear.

"Not long after getting Nightmare's stuff, the mage went insane and started killing everyone near him.

"After everyone was dead, he screamed while holding his head until it popped like a damn balloon." Any temptation Jayce had of wearing the armor disappeared as images of his head exploding flooded his mind.

"Not wanting for this to happen again, Merlin gave that accursed armor to my old man for safekeeping. He then passed it on to me shortly before passing away."

It now made sense to Jayce why the armor or the weapons weren't displayed. Unless he wanted to massacre everyone in town, it was better for it to stay locked up.

"Do you know what a curse is?" One of the few things he did remember was that curses were split into three categories.

Physical which damages your body, spiritual which affects your mentality, and corruption which erodes both your body and your mind. Corruption is the most dangerous but also the rarest among curses.

"I've tried, but that damn priest couldn't identify the curse." The dwarf roared in frustration.

He had paid a lot of money to know what the curse was just for the priest to say he couldn't figure it out and didn't give him a refund.

'Maybe if I can find out what the curse is?' Jayce thought to himself as he looked at the mask and activated his skill, {Demonic Eye of Truth}.

[Nightmare's Mask]